KLEM News Update - May 1, 2010

(Le Mars) The Le Mars Fire Department responded to an apartment fire just after 9 am Saturday. The Merrill Fire Department assisted LMFD for a short time at the fire on Memorial Drive in Le Mars. The Oyens Fire Department was called to insure that a fire at 38082 180th Street had been completely extinguished. A fire in a bedroom had apparently been started by an 11 year old. The Oyens Fire Department was on the scene for about 20 minutes.

(SIOUX CITY)--Six Deacons will be ordained into the Catholic Church today at the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City. Those being ordained are Rick Roder of Remsen; Richard Port of Westfield; David Lopez and Bruce Chartier, both of Sioux City; Ken Lundquist of Sioux Rapids; and Darwin Messerly of Boone. The men will be ordained by Bishop Walker Nickless of the Sioux City Diocese. The men will be assigned to serve various parishes across the Diocese of Sioux City. The deacon program takes five years to complete. The men are evaluated each year and advancement is at the invitation of the Bishop of the Diocese.

(Le Mars)--About 635,000 2010 Census takers across the nation begin going door to door today (Saturday) to follow up with households that either didn't mail back their form or didn't receive one. City administrator Scott Langel encourages anyone who has not filled out a form to be returned to do that.

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An estimated 48 million addresses will be visited through July 10.

(ORANGE CITY)--A Sioux Center man has been sentenced to prison for theft involving a bank deposit. According to Sioux County attorney Coleman McAllister, 35-year-old Matthew Gumphrey was sentenced today (Friday) in district court for a theft in the second degree conviction. Gumphrey was charged after he opened a checking account in Sioux Center using a check from a Minnesota bank that was ultimately not honored. Before the bank in Sioux County received the returned check notice, he withdrew more than six-thousand dollars from the new account. The county attorney reports Gumphrey was ordered to serve five years in prison and make restitution for the check.

(SIOUX CITY)--An Alta woman will be sentenced in federal court in Sioux City for a drug conviction.

According to the U-S attorney's office, 26-year-old Jamie Alissa Peterson of Alta was convicted of conspiring to make and distribute meth and distribute pseudoephedrine. Peterson was also convicted of making or distributing meth where someone under the age of 18 was present or lived.

She was accused of making and distributing meth and pseudoephedrine at a home in Truesdale from February of 2006 to July of last year. The residence was within 1000 feet of a city park.

Prosecutors say the charges were filed after her residence in Alta was searched and a meth lab and related items were found.

(SIOUX CITY)--Construction on Interstate 29 in Monona County will change traffic patterns.

The Iowa Department of Transportation reports the work is on the northbound lanes of Interstate 29, between an area five miles north of Onawa to near Sloan.

During the construction, traffic will be head-to-head on the southbound lanes of Interstate 29.

The northbound entrance and exit ramps at the Whiting interchange are closed. A 15-foot width lane restriction is also in effect.

This portion of the interstate project will be completed by the mid-summer. The entire I-29 project is expected to be completed by mid-December.